Side Effects
by Masked Doll Victoria
Summary: Various short fics devoted to the Infernal Tokyo setting from SMT4, expect spoilers.


"Next!" The demonoid dressed from head to toe in clothing encrusted with blood and muck, the remnants of many a hard day's work, yelled.

But before the next experiment could be carried out, the remains of the first would have to be disposed of. Just a few minutes before a man had arrived primed and ready for fusion, thought of attaining true power bouncing in his waking mind. Reality, however, was far removed from the fantasy he had build, a malfunction in the demon fusion program had rendered his body nothing but a pile of animate slime, a creature barely capable of speech, let alone rational thought.

Another demon, dressed much like the worst, entered the dirty and poorly lit room armed only with a mop and bucket. Even in a world consumed in fire and violence, someone had to clean up the messes left behind by those above them. Shaking his head in a condescending manner, the new demon raised his cleaning tools and carefully scooped the babbling remains of what had once been a human being across the operating table and into the rusted vessel in his left hand. The slime attempted to object, emitting a loud moan that echoed through the facility and sent a brief chill down the spines of all who waited in the long line outside awaiting their chance to be reborn.

In the ruins of Tokyo, where strength was law, the weak existed for the sustenance and amusement of the ruling class. Those without use were cast aside like so much trash, such was the fate of the slime. In short order he would, at best, be dumped onto the side of the road somewhere, most likely fodder to be torn apart or consumed by the less intelligent among the demon population.

The refuse of failure removed, a young girl with long hair and a worried look on her face entered the room. Slowly creeping across the room, the small girl shook uncontrollably as her eyes darted nervously from side to side as she surveyed the dirty room. The gibbering cries of the offal that had just been carted off in a rusty bucket lay heavy on her mind.

"You ready?" The man in charge of the creation of new demonoids asked as he prepped the the machinery necessary to carry out the ghastly process.

The girl shook her head slowly, knowing all to well what she was agreeing to.

There was but two paths one could undertake in the burning ruins of old Tokyo. Become a demon or become food for the demons. To refuse meant death or worse.

"Got it, just lay down on the table and we'll get this over with."

The girl nervously mounted the table and laid down. Besides her the clickclak of fingers against a keyboard rang in her ears as the demon fusion program sprang to life with an array of loud noises and colors.

"Brace yourself, kid. This maybe a little rough." The operator spoke as he set the process into motion.

The girl began to scream as her body was disassembled at a level so small it defied all common sense. Broken into what could best be called "data", her very existence was slowly but surely being digitized and fed into the mysterious system handed down to mankind from parts unknown where it would mingle with the "data" of another creature, be spit back out, and transform it's host into something half-way between the two.

It would only take a few moments for the program to complete the fusion, but for the girl, it seemed like an eternity. As her legs were fused together, covered in scales, and her tongue forcibly split into two, the echo of her scream became silent as she could no longer speak, her mind completely incapable of doing anything with the alien anatomy that had been forced upon it. No process had been found to deal with the dissonance, save for letting it run its course. The strong would endure the pain while the weak would succumb to it, thus the natural order of would assert itself.

As the fusion came towards it's end, the newly transformed girl began thrashing about against the belts the strapped her against the operating table, flailing her arms and tail about wildly as her brain attempted to regain a semblance of control over her new serpentine body. Still wishing to speak, all that issued forth from her lips was a loud and angry hiss.

"Feisty one, ain't ya?" The operator laughed. "Get it all out now so you don't start a fight later."

For awhile longer the flailing continued as the girl attempted to break her restraints and lay siege to everything around her. But no matter how much she struggled, the bonds would not break. With her mind and body out of synch, she was simply not up to the task.

Tired, the girl panted as the last of the data fusion came to pass. Aligning the mismatched essence of her own mind and that of the creature she had been joined with, the power of rational thought finally returned to her, making her prior performance all the more embarrassing.

"Alll done, kid." The operator said as he removed the restraints binding his subject to the operating table. "How are you feelin?"

"Good. I feel good." She said, her mind awash in thoughts of a future steeped in a dream crimson.


End file.
